Agartala/Shillong, Nov 4 (IANS): Infiltration from unrest hit Bangladesh into northeastern states of India continued with 12 more citizens of the neighbouring country and three Indian touts being arrested on Monday from along the bordering areas in Tripura and Meghalaya, officials said.

A BSF Spokesman in Shillong said that acting on specific info, the border guarding troops, in collaboration with Meghalaya Police, thwarted an infiltration attempt, and apprehended seven Bangladeshi nationals who intended to enter Indian territory through the Boldamgre village of South West Garo Hills district.

The seven Bangladeshi nationals, aged between 20 to 60 years old, are residents of Kurigram district, adjoining Meghalaya.

A Bangladesh passport, Bangladeshi currencies, mobile phones, and mobile SIM cards of that country were recovered from their possession.

The illegal intruders were handed over to the Kalaichar Patrol Post police.

In Tripura, BSF in a joint operation with the Tripura police arrested five Bangladesh nationals and three Indian touts from Jalkumbha in the south Tripura district.

The Bangladesh nationals are residents of Jagannath village in Khagrachari district of Chittagong Hill Tracts while Indian nationals are inhabitants of Baikhora in South Tripura district.

After the Bangladesh unrest began in June-July, BSF has enhanced the surveillance along the 4,096-km border with the neighbouring country to prevent trans-border crime and infiltration, the BSF officials said.

Five Indian states – West Bengal (2216 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km) and Assam ( 263 km) share a border with Bangladesh.

Over the last three and a half months, over 450 Bangladeshi nationals and over 60 Rohingyas were arrested by the Government Railway Police, BSF and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

In Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that in the last two months, police have detected 138 infiltrators and pushed them to Bangladesh.

“But one thing I must again repeat is that contrary to the expectation that Hindus would come inside India because of the instability in Bangladesh, we are finding that Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingya Muslims are coming into our country. So, I think first, the perception about Hindu-Bengali is wrong,” Sarma told the media.

Both the Bangladeshi nationals and the Rohingyas told the Indian security officials that they illegally entered India in search of jobs and shelter.